How the Program Works

The first night.

Dirk Lincicome and I were both planning an after school program designed to provide more opportunity for students to stay active. Rather than try to implement two separate programs, we decided to sit down and discuss our goals, formats etc. The product of our collaboration is what is now known as the LYFE Program (Local Youth Fitness Education). The first step in the implementation of our program was to send out questionnaires in order to be certain that there was indeed an interest. After receiving the responses, we knew that the students and parents were interested. Our next step was to send out information sheets that would let the parents and students have all the details of the program. In our pilot program, which we started in April of 2012, we met every Tuesday and Thursday from 4:00pm until 5:00pm. On the student sign-up sheets, we asked for a donation up to 15.00 to help get equipment for the program, as well as to help hold participants accountable. All of the money goes back to the students in the form of equipment, etc. Neither Dirk or I receive any extra pay from this program, it is 100% voluntary. The first night we had just over 90 students in attendance. This is over 10% of our total student enrollment, Kindergarten through 5th grade. The next few nights we had over 100 students in each class. The first few nights, there was a lot of learning and adapting in order to keep over 100 students organized, focused and on task. The first problem for me was the organization of the students. The first night we grouped the students by grade level, and we rotated them through 12 stations. We took attendance by grade level, which took quite a bit of time. That night, I decided that we needed a better system. I grouped the students into 12 groups, each group containing an equal number of students from each grade level. Students would need to remember their number each class, and we still took attendance by grade level. This system lasted about 1 or two days, then I had a better idea. I reorganized the groups again, in the same fashion, but this time, I made 5th graders the team leaders. I placed numbers on the wall (1-12) so that the students could sit in line with their number, prior to the start of class. I then made portable frames that hold 1. The number of the station, 2. A description of the exercise at that station, 3. A clipboard with all the students name from that number. Now, students would check their name if they attended, and that list also would remind students of which "team" they were on. After using the numbers on the wall, along with the portable frames, organization was much better. The class would start off with a 5 minute warm-up and then proceed to the circuit. Each "team" would start at their own number on the exercise circuit. We ran a couple different circuits. One day students would spend 3 minutes at each station, and then we would have them rotate to the next station, in numerical order. I decided that 3 minutes was a pretty long time, so I made a change. I decided to go for 2 minutes at each station, which gave the students time to get familiar with the exercise and get in their reps. After the 12 stations were finished, we did a second round of only 1 minute. At the end of the day, we would stretch and cool down, and then finish the evening with a "come together". We chat with the students, share some tips and the "1,2,3, whatever saying was selected by the students. The students left tired, sweaty and on a positive note! We did run into some other situations. For one, we allowed students to go to the restroom, and get drinks, whenever they wanted. This lasted for a few rounds, but eventually I did not like the number of students leaving, which many times was the same students. In order to slow this down, I put out 3 blue and 3 gold bowling pins. Students were not allowed to leave the gym unless they had a bowling pin. This did a lot to help slow down the number of students leaving the room.